The Chianina breed
is enjoying today an image as one of the most prominent
and popular breeds amongst all world-breeds thanks to the
ever growing fame of the “fiorentina”-style
steak’s gastronomic myth. Originating, according to
some sources, from the Bos Primigenius (the kind depicted
in prehistoric caves), whose “rump” they still
preserve, the Chianina-cattle were much appreciated already
in Etruscan and Roman times when, due to their snow-white
coat they were used for triumphal parades and in the performing
of sacrifices to deities (as described by georgic and Latin
poets and portrayed in bronze statues and roman bas-reliefs,
amongst which stand out the ones from the world-celebrated
Arch of Constantine in the Imperial Forums).
The Chianina-cattle, easily recognizable from their porcelain-white
coat, their tongue and muzzle pigmentation, their light
and elegant short-horned head, their long and cylindrical
body with wide and well-rounded rump and loins and their
limbs, longer than those in other breeds, are the largest
bovines on earth (the absolute world-record is held by celebrated
“Donetto”, a Chianina bull weighing, at the
age of 8, an impressive 1.750 Kg!).
After 22 centuries of breeding in the lower-middle Tiber
Valley and Val di Chiana, the Chianina breed is nowadays
spread all over the hills and plains enclosed amongst the
cities of Arezzo, Siena, Pisa, Perugia and Rieti. In the
late Fifties, thanks to its capability to adapt to different
environments, the Chianina soon grew to be a “cosmopolitan”
breed and crossed national borders to reach Asia, China,
Russia, Australia and North and South America.
Mostly employed in the past as a draught animal, the Chianina
are today considered to be some of the most prized meat-producers
in the world.
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